How Light Affects Your Paint Colors

Is that wall blue or grey?

Depending on a number of variables, it could be either!

Picking a wall color is a tricky task!  You should take careful consideration before selecting any color for your walls.

Many factors play a part when it comes to varying shades of the same color:

• The direction the room faces
• How much light the room receives
• How natural light changes throughout the day

These factors are all important variables that go into the process of how light affects your paint colors.

 

Which Direction does your Room Face?

A good starting point is to think about what direction the room faces. Depending on the direction, the sun will give off different color tones which serve as helpful guides when choosing a paint color. On Farrow-Ball.com, they discuss the color tones that go along with each direction.

North Facing Room Colors

North facing rooms, they said, bring out the cooler tones within colors. They recommend using a yellow based color to help move light around the room.

 

South Facing Rooms Colors

South facing rooms tend to hold a warm glow light throughout the day, which allows more options when painting. Pale tones such as soft blues or red-based neutrals are recommended to help create more light within the room.

 

West or East Facing Rooms Colors

West and east facing rooms become a bit more complicated.

“It is useful to consider whether you’ll use an east or west facing room more in the morning or the afternoon so that you can tailor your color choice to the type of light you will most often experience. Light in west-facing spaces is cooler in the morning then filled with dramatic light in the afternoon, while east facing rooms are bright in the morning and cooler in the afternoon,” Farrow-Ball.com said.

 

 

For west facing rooms, they recommend a white wall to enhance the light.

 

 

Since the light in east facing rooms often appears blue, they recommend sticking with greens and blues.

 

Natural Light

Another important aspect to consider is the amount of  light the room regularly receives.

“A room flooded with sunlight can handle more saturated color, but pale shades tend to get washed out,” recommends Benjamin Moore.com. “For help in picking the most comfortable color, take your room’s temperature.”

They suggest painting in a matte finish in a room with limited sunlight to create a soft effect or to minimize reflections in rooms with lots of natural light.  The glossier the paint finish the more reflective the color becomes.

 

Artificial Light

Turn on the lights! Because artificial light impacts color too.  Halogen light is the closest thing to natural light.  It won’t distort color as much as incandescent and fluorescent lights.

 

 

Throughout the day as the sun shifts in the sky, the amount of light in any particular room is always changing. It is important to paint test areas on the wall to see how the changing light affects the color.

Check the test areas at different times of the day to see what happens to the color.

 

 

Keep these tips in mind when choosing paint colors and you will create a harmonious balance between color and light!

 

Photo credits:  luxesource.com, pattifridayphotography.blogspot.va elledecor.com, housebeautiful.com, interiorsbystudiom.com, houseofutrquoise.com, dapur.myglobalcv.website, Homebnc